Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Cyprus: Diplomatic Service

Baroness Mobarik: To ask His Majesty's Government whether the British High Commissioner to Cyprus has visited the Muratağa, Sandallar and Atlilar memorial in Northern Cyprus; and, if not, what plans they have to visit.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: We recognise that the events of 1974 and the preceding period continue to cast a long shadow over Cyprus. We regularly engage with Cypriot civil society organisations to appropriately remember those who lost their lives, families and loved ones during the period. The UK continues to support the Committee for Missing Persons by providing financial support, including for DNA testing.

Nagorno Karabakh: Cultural Heritage

The Lord Bishop of Southwark: To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Azerbaijan regarding the protection of Armenian heritage in Nagorno–Karabakh following the recent destruction of the St John the Baptist Church and the Ghazanchetsots cemetery in Shusha, and the nearby village of Karin Tak/Dashalti.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: We are clear that the preservation of religious and cultural sites in the region is an important issue and we take seriously reports of the destruction of churches or other sites of religious significance. We are aware of allegations from both Armenia and Azerbaijan that cultural and religious sites have been deliberately damaged over the course of the conflict. British Embassy in Baku have raised the topic of religious and cultural destruction and the need to protect such sites with the Azerbaijani government consistently and at the most senior levels.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Flats: Insulation

The Earl of Lytton: To ask His Majesty's Government which types of defect data they collect when assessing the prevalence of non-cladding defects in residential buildings.

Baroness Scott of Bybrook: The Department receives quarterly updates from Registered Providers of social housing on progress towards remediating buildings for which they are the Responsible Entity. This includes data on buildings with external and/or internal life-critical fire safety defects. In addition to unsafe cladding, relevant defects may include but are not limited to: compartmentation between dwellings or between dwellings and common parts; inadequate fire stopping or fire barriers; incorrect or missing fire escape signage; inadequate or defective fire detection and alarm systems; unprotected means of escape; and inadequate or defective firefighting equipment or installations.The Department also receives quarterly updates from developers that have signed the developer remediation contract. This too includes data on buildings with external and/ or internal life-critical fire safety defects.

Buildings: Fire Prevention

The Earl of Lytton: To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to ensuring that building owners, whether freeholders, commonhold associations or enfranchised leaseholders, who are required to remedy non ‘life-critical fire safety defects’ have an automatic remedy against the person responsible for the defective construction.

Baroness Scott of Bybrook: Interested parties including freeholders, leaseholders, commonhold associations or enfranchised leaseholders can potentially look to pursue a previous freeholder, developer and any associated company or person for remediation costs through a remediation contribution order. They also have the potential to pursue developers, contractors, or manufacturers where they are liable for defects which meant one or more dwelling in the building was not fit for habitation when the relevant works were completed.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Forests: Conservation

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick: To ask His Majesty's Government when they will introduce secondary legislation under Schedule 17 to the Environment Act 2021.

Lord Benyon: The Government is committed to bring forward secondary legislation under the Environment Act 2021 on forest risk commodities imminently.

Darwin Plus: Finance

Lord Randall of Uxbridge: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have anyplans to continuefinancing Darwin Plus at £10 million per year after the current commitment ends in 2025.

Lord Benyon: Running since 2012, the Darwin Plus programme has invested over £55 million in more than 320 projects across the UK Overseas Territories. The UK Government has recently expanded the Darwin Plus programme to better meet the needs of the UK Overseas Territories. In 2023, Darwin Plus introduced a new local scheme aimed at building capacity, and a new strategic scheme for fostering great innovation, ambition and collaboration in and between territories, both of which are now funding live projects. Post March 2025, Darwin Plus funding will be subject to outcomes of the next Spending Review.

Department for Business and Trade

Companies: Registration

Lord Mann: To ask His Majesty's Government how many fake companies were registered in each of the last 12 months for which there are records, unbeknownst to the householder at the address used.

Lord Offord of Garvel: Companies House does not have a means of accurately measuring the volume of companies used for illegitimate purposes or an approved statistical method to estimate it. However, Companies House does act on reports of unexpected activity that may indicate that an incorporated entity is being used illegitimately. Following the commencement of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 on 4 March Companies House has begun to act proactively cleanse the Register of Companies of disputed information. It has also been empowered to proactively share information with law enforcement partners where potentially illegitimate activity is identified.

Exports

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of figures by the Office for National Statistics which show UK services exports grew 63 per cent in real terms between 2010 and 2023, while goods exports grew only seven per cent, what steps they are taking to boost the export of goods.

Lord Offord of Garvel: The Department for Business and Trade is backing British businesses to export by knocking down trade barriers and signing new trade deals.In 2022, the Government committed to resolving a ‘hit list’ of priority barriers worth more than £20 billion over five years. Since the start of 2022, we have resolved barriers all over the world estimated to be worth over £15 billion (over a five-year period) to UK businesses.Businesses can access the department’s wealth of export support options on great.gov.uk, including trade advisers, Export Champions, the Export Academy, our International Markets network and UK Export Finance.

Scaffolding

Lord Patten: To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of occasions on which scaffolding around domestic and commercial buildings was erected illegally in England in the most recent year for which figures are available, and whether this figure is decreasing or increasing.

Lord Johnson of Lainston: The Department for Business and Trade does not hold this data.

Northern Ireland Office

Casement Park: Regeneration

Lord Weir of Ballyholme: To ask His Majesty's Government what is their current assessmentof the total capital cost of the rebuilding of Casement Park.

Lord Weir of Ballyholme: To ask His Majesty's Government what level of financial commitment they have made to the Casement Park rebuilding project.

Lord Caine: EURO 2028 is a fantastic opportunity for the UK and Ireland to showcase world-class sport as hosts. The UK Government is continuing to work closely with the Department for Communities regarding the cost and delivery of Casement Park whilst also having proper regard for value for money for the taxpayer. We remain committed to ensuring EURO 2028 leaves a lasting legacy across the UK.

Home Office

Asylum: Housing

Lord Scriven: To ask His Majesty's Government what planning estimate they have made for the number of people who have arrived by irregular routes and need to be accommodated in the UK because they have not been sent to a safe third country or returned home, for the end of each month from April to December 2024.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: The Home Office routinely publishes information on a quarterly basis, including on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation, all irregular modes of entry into the UK, and the level of returns.

Manston Asylum Processing Centre: Inquiries

Lord Bradley: To ask His Majesty's Government what action they have taken to establish the statutory inquiry into the Manston migrant processing centre.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: Following a decision to launch a statutory inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005, the Home Office is taking steps to establish the Inquiry. In accordance with the Inquiries Act 2005, the Department will make a formal statement to Parliament, which will include details of the Chair and Terms of Reference, in due course.

Visas: Public Order Offences

Lord Jackson of Peterborough: To ask His Majesty's Government howmany individuals who are not British citizens have had their visitor or other visas rescinded as a result of criminal activities associated with public order offences since 7 October 2023.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: The Home Office does not publish data on UK visa holders who have had visas rescinded as a result of criminal activities associated with public order offences at the current time.

Women and Equalities

Intersex: Human Rights

Lord Stevenson of Balmacara: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to give effect to the recent United Nations Human Rights Council resolution affirming the rights of intersex people; and what istheir planned timetable for addressing the rights violations experienced by people born with variations in their sex characteristics, including genital-normalising operations carried out on intersex children.

Baroness Barran: The UK recognises the fundamental importance of protecting the human rights of all people, including those with variations in sex characteristics (VSC), and we await the OHCHR report on the human rights of intersex people.It is important to understand the experiences of people living with VSC in the UK and to use this insight to shape policy. In this vein, the Government is currently monitoring and considering evidence and research specific to people living with VSC.

Department for Education

School Day

Lord Weir of Ballyholme: To ask His Majesty's Government what funding they are providing for pilot projects for schools to assess the feasibility of extending the school day.

Lord Weir of Ballyholme: To ask His Majesty's Government what evaluation, if any, they are undertaking of pilot projects by schools of extending the length of the school day.

Baroness Barran: Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only. All schools have the autonomy to make decisions about the content, structure and duration of their school day to best support their pupils’ education. The government has however set a non-statutory expectation that all state-funded mainstream schools will deliver at least a 32.5 hour school week by September 2024. Most schools already meet this expectation. Extending the compulsory school day, or offering enrichment activities around the school day, may help children, particularly the most disadvantaged, to improve attainment, social skills and raise aspirations. It may also help parents with childcare. Should a school be considering making changes to the duration of its day, it should act reasonably and consider the impact on those affected, including pupils, parents and teachers. The government is not providing funding for, nor conducting evaluation of, pilot projects for schools looking to extend the length of the school day. The department is aware of schools taking innovative approaches to structuring their school day and is always interested to hear from schools who are trialling new approaches.

Higher Education: Freedom of Expression

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to extend the deadline of 1 August for implementation of the provisions of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, given that the Office for Students has yet to publish guidance on the new complaints scheme relating to freedom of speech.

Baroness Barran: The main provisions of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 will come into force on 1 August 2024. Provisions surrounding the new regulatory framework and overseas funding will come into force on 1 September 2025. There is currently no intention to delay the commencement of these provisions, the department will lay the required secondary legislation to meet these implementation dates.The department will work in collaboration with the Office for Students (OfS) to implement the Act, to allow time for the sector to update their policies and codes of practice. The department meets regularly with OfS to understand progress.The OfS have already launched three consultations related to:The regulation of students’ unions (closed).The new free-to-use complaints scheme (closed).Its proposed approach, regulatory advice and guidance on the duties related to freedom of speech and academic freedom. (open until 26 May 2024).The proposed guidance is intended to help providers, constituent institutions and students’ unions to navigate the new free speech duties that the OfS expects to regulate from 1 August 2024. The department understands that the OfS intends to publish the final version on or before 1 August 2024.A provisional implementation timetable is available on the OfS website: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/quality-and-standards/freedom-of-speech/changes-to-regulation/.

Higher Education: Freedom of Expression

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: To ask His Majesty's Government whatsteps they are taking to ensure that the Office for Students will provide guidance on the complaints scheme under the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 in a timely manner, in compliance with the provisions of the Act.

Baroness Barran: The main provisions of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 will come into force on 1 August 2024. The Office for Students (OfS) has already carried out consultations related to the regulation of students’ unions and new complaints scheme rules in December 2023. The department meets regularly with OfS to understand its progress on the implementation of the Act. The OfS also launched a consultation on 26 March 2024 on its proposed approach, regulatory advice and guidance on the duties related to freedom of speech and academic freedom. The proposed guidance is intended to help providers, constituent institutions and students’ unions to navigate the new free speech duties that the OfS expects to regulate from 1 August 2024. The department understands that the OfS intends to publish the final version on or before 1 August 2024.

Students: Equality

Baroness Hunt of Bethnal Green: To ask His Majesty's Government what is the total number of individual named (1) current, and (2) former, students' records held by the Department for Education collected in equality monitoring, broken down by (a) religious affiliation, (b) sexual orientation, (c) gender identity, and (d) disability.

Baroness Barran: The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA – now part of Jisc), is responsible for collecting and publishing data on the UK’s higher education (HE) sector. The latest published statistics refer to the 2021/22 academic year.The department holds individual-level HESA data for all HE students in each academic year from 1995/96 to 2021/22. From 1998/99, the students are able to be identified by name.The HESA data includes information on student’s disability status, religion or belief, gender identity and sexual orientation, although, gender identity, sexual orientation and religion or belief (for English, Scottish and Welsh HE providers) were not collected prior to 2012/13. Note that gender identity differs to biological sex which has been collected across all academic years since 1995/96.The estimated figures below are derived by counting every student that started a HE course in the UK since 1999/2000, as well as the total number of enrolments (entrants and continuing students) in the academic year 1998/99. The figures exclude students with a missing first and last name, but includes students who are not part of the standard registration population. Therefore, these figures will differ from HESA’s publications. Additionally, students that disclose sensitive characteristics for the first time in any year after their first year of study are not counted under the estimated number of students with known sensitive characteristics, and students that have started more than one course since 1998/99 are counted once for each enrolment.The department is estimated to hold the names of 28,927,337 students that started a HE course in the UK between 1998/99 and 2021/22. For 27,424,867 of these names, the department holds information on at least one of the following sensitive characteristics - disability status, religion or belief, gender identity or sexual orientation.Of the estimated 28,927,337 names held by the department, 27,373,886 (95%) of them have a known disability status, 7,403,109 (26%) have a known religion or belief, 6,164,770 (21%) have a known gender identity and 6,388,972 (22%) have a known sexual orientation.Student numbers broken down by personal characteristics over time are available through HESA’s open data pages, which can be found here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/sb265/figure-5. HESA’s publication archive for earlier years can be found here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/publications.While individual identifiers are retained by the department for matching purposes, at all times the department will minimise the processing of, and access to, instant or meaningful identifiers. Access to named data within the department is restricted to a small number of data professionals with responsibility for matching this data with other sources and creating pseudonymised, or aggregated, versions of the data which are subsequently used for research and statistics.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Churches: Repairs and Maintenance

Lord Redesdale: To ask His Majesty's Government whatforms of financial support are available from the Government, and arms-length bodies such as National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England, for fabric repairs to local church buildings, excluding cathedrals.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: HM Government makes available £42 million per annum through the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme. This reimburses VAT on eligible repair works over £1,000.The National Lottery Heritage Fund invests Lottery players’ funding to sustain the UK’s heritage. The Fund runs open-access grant programmes, to which local churches can apply, providing their project meets its four principal investment themes: saving heritage, protecting the environment, inclusion access and participation, and organisational sustainability. Applicants must take all four principles into account in their application, although the strength of focus and emphasis on each principle is for them to decide and demonstrate.Historic England provides grants for churches in specific circumstances: where the congregation has a long-standing moral objection to Lottery funding and can provide evidence of that; where the building is not eligible for any National Lottery Heritage Fund grant programme; where it relates to exceptional emergency funding to stabilise the condition of a place of worship; or to prevent further deterioration in the next two years and where the applicant can demonstrate that discussions have already begun with the National Lottery Heritage Fund. To be eligible for a grant, a place of worship must be a grade I or II* listed building, or a grade II listed or unlisted building within a Conservation Area or London Borough.

Religious Buildings: Conservation

Lord Redesdale: To ask His Majesty's Government whatsteps Historic England are taking to reduce the number of places of worship on the Heritage at Risk Register.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: Since 2009 Historic England has provided grants to enable churches and other religious denominations to employ support officers to advise, encourage and help local congregations to maintain and repair their places of worship and remove them from the Heritage at Risk Register. In 2022–23 the nine support officers in post directly supported 234 congregations and ran 22 training events, attended by 355 delegates, in addition to tailored training at individual places of worship.Historic England architects, surveyors, engineers and technical advisers are also available to provide advice to help congregations address specific structural and repair problems across England. As a statutory consultee in both the national planning and ecclesiastical exemption processes, Historic England also provides formal advice on proposals for works to historic buildings, including informal advice pre-application and statutory responses in both legal frameworks. This expertise and assistance helps to remove places of worship from the Heritage at Risk Register.

Football: Charitable Trusts

Baroness Kennedy of Cradley: To ask His Majesty's Government what is their latest assessment of the value to communities of a Football Community Trust operating locally.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: The community arms of local football clubs are instrumental in fostering more active and resilient communities. By harnessing the power of the sport, these trusts promote social cohesion, improve public health, and make a positive impact on people’s lives.HM Government recognises and supports the contributions of these trusts in helping to strengthen communities and get more people active, in line with the. Government’s own priorities.

Religious Buildings: Conservation

Lord Redesdale: To ask His Majesty's Government how many places of worship have been on the Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register for five years or more.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: There are 644 entries assessed as places of worship which have been on the Historic England Heritage at Risk Register for at least five years. There are also two other entries assessed as buildings or structures which affect places of worship.

National Lottery Heritage Fund: Religious Buildings

Lord Redesdale: To ask His Majesty's Government howmany applications for funding were received by the National Lottery Heritage Fund from local parish churches, chapels and meeting houses (excluding cathedrals) in total in each of the last five financial years in (1) England, (2) Scotland, (3) Wales, and (4) Northern Ireland.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: The National Lottery Heritage Fund received 607 applications from England over the last 5 years.From 2019 to 2020, there were 187 applications.From 2020 to 2021, there were 86 applications.From 2021 to 2022 there were 115 applications.From 2022 to 2023 there were 123 applications.From 2023 to 2024 there were 96 applications.The National Lottery Heritage Fund received 25 applications from Scotland over the last 5 years.From 2019 to 2020, there were 6 applications.From 2020 to 2021, there were 4 applications.From 2021 to 2022 there were 5 applications.From 2022 to 2023 there were 3 applications.From 2023 to 2024 there were 7 applications.The National Lottery Heritage Fund received 94 applications from Wales over the last 5 years.From 2019 to 2020, there were 25 applications.From 2020 to 2021, there were 36 applications.From 2021 to 2022 there were 17 applications.From 2022 to 2023 there were 9 applications.From 2023 to 2024 there were 7 applications.The National Lottery Heritage Fund received 18 applications from Northern Ireland over the last 5 years.From 2019 to 2020, there were 4 applications.From 2020 to 2021, there were 3 applications.From 2021 to 2022 there were 6 applications.From 2022 to 2023 there were 4 applications.From 2023 to 2024 there was 1 application.

Tourism: Religious Buildings

Lord Redesdale: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have commissioned any research into the tourism potential of local parish churches, chapels and meeting houses.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: His Majesty’s Government has not commissioned any specific such research, but the International Passenger Survey (2019) found that 21% of inbound visits to the UK included visiting religious buildings, which are an important part of our national heritage.Additionally, as part of the Discover England Fund, VisitEngland supported the National Churches Trust to create a number of new visitor experiences and to help them work more closely with destination management organisations to improve their visibility in the visitor economy. A number of these experiences and things to do, in and around the Trust’s churches, were held on the Explore Churches website (www.nationalchurchestrust.org/explore). Visit England continues to support and work closely with the National Churches Trust.

Religious Buildings: Conservation

Lord Redesdale: To ask His Majesty's Government how many places of worship are currently on the Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: Of the 4,871 entries on the 2023 Historic England Heritage at Risk Register, 943 are places of worship. Two other entries are also assessed as buildings or structures which affect places of worship.The Heritage at Risk Register aims to protect and manage the historic environment. Historic England works with owners, ‘friends of’ groups, developers, and others to find solutions for historic places and sites at risk across England, ensuring their survival for the benefit of present and future generations.

Churches: Repairs and Maintenance

Lord Redesdale: To ask His Majesty's Government whatamount of financial support was provided to local church buildings, excluding cathedrals, for fabric repairs in 2022–2023 by the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport and arm’s length bodies, such as the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has funded church buildings through the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, which makes available £42 million per annum. This scheme provides grants towards VAT paid on repairs and maintenance to the nation's listed places of worship.In the period from 2022 to 2023 a total of £16,949,526 was provided to local churches, excluding cathedrals, for conservation and maintenance work from this scheme.Additionally, the National Lottery Heritage Fund awarded £15,759,986 to places of worship in England over the same period.Historic England also provided public funding in this period for local churches through different funding programmes. A total of £218,286 was granted for urgent emergency works to church buildings in England in use for worship. In addition, grants were made through Historic England to churches, chapels and one tabernacle which are no longer in use for worship to a total of £902,453.

Department of Health and Social Care

Alcoholic Drinks: Labelling

Baroness Finlay of Llandaff: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to meet their 2020 commitment to a consultation on alcohol calorie labelling.

Lord Markham: The Government has previously announced an intention to consult on whether to introduce mandatory calorie labelling on alcohol. We are currently considering the evidence base, and have commissioned a National Institute for Health and Care Research study on understanding the impact of alcohol calorie labelling on alcohol and calorie selection, purchasing, and consumption.The Government is taking a wide-ranging approach to addressing alcohol-related harms. As part of the NHS Health Check, information on alcohol consumption is provided to support people to make healthier choices. The Department continues to promote the United Kingdom’s Chief Medical Officers’ Low Risk Drinking Guidelines in England through online platforms. This provides the public with the most up-to-date scientific information, to help people make informed decisions about their own drinking, including the health harms of alcohol consumption.

Public Health

Lord Kempsell: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessmentthey havemade of new scientific discoveries in the field of longevity and radical life extension in order to better public health; and whetherthey have a strategy to promote longevity science.

Lord Markham: We continue to monitor new research that shows promise for improving the health of the public. The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR's strategy, Best Research for Best Health: The Next Chapter, highlights the need to fund research which responds to demographic pressures, including an ageing population. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including ageing.

Rare Diseases: Health Services

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan tohold discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence aboutits appraisal system to ensure it is sufficiently flexible to respond to treatments and medicines for rare diseases.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to have any discussions with theNational Institute for Health and Care Excellence about employingadditional flexibility for rare condition medicines to take into considerationtheimplications of having a small population and potentially more expensive medicines.

Lord Markham: The Department regularly meets with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to discuss a range of issues including access to and availability of medicines. NICE’s methods and processes for health technology evaluation have been proven to be suitable for medicines for rare diseases where companies price their products responsibly, and NICE introduced a number of changes to its methods and processes in 2022 that ensure that its processes are appropriate to the evaluation of emerging new technologies.NICE also operates a highly specialised technologies programme for the evaluation of a small number of medicines for the treatment of very rare diseases. As of 31 March 2024, NICE has recommended 88% of medicines licensed for the treatment of rare diseases for some or all of the eligible patient population, which is comparable to NICE’s approval rate for all medicines.The Innovative Medicines Fund, building on the success of the Cancer Drugs Fund, provides a mechanism for consistent and transparent managed access process for companies offering promising non-cancer medicines at a responsible price. The Fund has already provided early access for National Health Service patients to several innovative new treatments, including for patients with rare diseases such as graft-versus-host disease and Wolman disease.

Diabetes: Children

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent children from developing diabetes at an early age.

Lord Markham: The Government is delivering an ambitious programme of work to help children and families maintain a healthier weight, which can prevent the onset of Type 2 diabetes.The Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) is contributing to reductions in levels of childhood obesity by encouraging soft drinks producers to remove added sugar from products. Levels of sugar in SDIL products have reduced by 46%, removing over 46,000 tonnes of sugar.The Department supports three million children through the Healthy Food Schemes, which encourage and contribute to a healthy and balanced diet.

Health

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to publish a health prevention strategy.

Lord Markham: The Major Conditions Strategy outlines our approach in tackling six groups of major health conditions, by creating a health and care system that is faster, simpler, and fairer, focusing on prevention, proactive care and more person centred care. Since announcing the Major Conditions Strategy in January 2023, we have been working with a range of stakeholders in the health and care system, including those with lived experience, to identify what would make the most difference in tackling the six major conditions groups that account for around 60% of ill-health and early death in England.We aim to publish the final strategy in summer of this year.

Maternity Services: Training

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government whether NHS England, integrated care boards, and NHS Trusts have ensured that all maternity and neonatal staff have had the training, supervision, and support as required.

Lord Markham: Regulated healthcare professionals need to meet the education and training standards set by their profession’s regulator. It is the responsibility of individual employers to ensure that their staff are trained and competent to carry out the role for which they are employed, and for making decisions about the ongoing professional training and development requirements of their staff. This includes responsibility for investing in the future of their staff, through providing continuing professional development funding.Mandatory training for maternity staff is outlined in Core competency framework Version 2: Minimum standards and stretch targets, which provides both the minimum standards and stretch targets. Compliance with the core competency framework is overseen by integrated care boards and is incentivised through the Maternity Incentive Scheme which is administered by NHS Resolution. A copy of the framework is attached.Support for staff working in maternity and neonatal services is provided by Professional Midwifery Advocates and Professional Nurse Advocates. This is a non-statutory model of clinical supervision. There are 1400 Professional Midwifery Advocates and approximately 300 Professional Nurse Advocates working in trusts in England.Core competency framework Version 2 (pdf, 164.3KB)

Diabetes: Children

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of high rates of childhood obesity on future diabetes rates; and what assessment they have made of the impact that this will have on the NHS's future spend on diabetes.

Lord Markham: NHS England has data from national diabetes audits showing the increasing numbers of young people being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes over the past five years. NHS England knows that 93.5% of children with Type 2 diabetes that are under the care of paediatric diabetes units are overweight or obese, with a body mass index above the 85th centile after correction for age and gender.Core20PLUS5 – Children and Young People includes diabetes as a key clinical area and has two key areas of clinical focus, namely to increase access to real time continuous glucose monitoring and insulin pumps for children and young people in the most deprived quintiles and from ethnic minority backgrounds, and increase the proportion of children and young people with Type 2 diabetes receiving all the care processes recommended in guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.Key diabetes health metrics, such as blood glucose levels, are poorest in young adults aged between 19 and 25 years old. To address this age-related health inequality, 15 ‘Transition and Young Adult’ pilots were established by the NHS Diabetes Programme in 2022-2025 to test models of care for young adults with diabetes and those transitioning from paediatric to adult diabetes services. The pilots will be evaluated to inform the evidence base on how to best deliver care and improve outcomes for this group.

Patients: Safety

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government whether thePatient Safety Incident Response Framework has been fully implemented throughout the NHS to support learning and compassionate responses to families following any incidents.

Lord Markham: Compliance with the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) is now a contractual requirement for all services commissioned under the NHS Standard Contract. Implementing the PSIRF is an ongoing process and organisations’ approach to patient safety incident response can and should evolve over time. Work is also underway to explore implementation of the PSIRF in wider services within the National Health Service, such as primary care.

Health Services: Standards

Baroness Coussins: To ask His Majesty's Government whether the public consultation on updating the NHS constitution, published on 30 April, is available in languages other than English, and if so, in which languages.

Baroness Coussins: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the public consultation on updating the NHS constitution is brought to the attention of individuals whose first language is not English.

Lord Markham: The Department is committed to supporting people from all backgrounds in accessing the NHS Constitution consultation, in part by ensuring the consultation is well publicised and reaches multiple audiences, including those whose first language is not English.While there are no plans to publish the consultation in additional languages, the Department is working at pace to publish an easy-read version. The simplified language will make the information more accessible for a broader audience, which may support those whose first language is not English, to access and respond to the consultation.

Department for Transport

Motorways: Safety Measures

Baroness Randerson: To ask His Majesty's Government whatassessment they have made ofreports that the safety equipment installed on smart motorways has a high failure rate.

Lord Davies of Gower: Smart motorways operate using a range of safety systems and are designed not to be reliant on one single piece of roadside technology for safe operation. National Highways has worked hard to deliver a significant improvement in the performance of stopped vehicle detection (SVD), with all schemes now meeting performance requirements.In their annual safety report published in December 2023, the ORR confirmed that SVD technology is now meeting performance requirements for detection rate, detection time, and false detection. The ORR will continue to monitor SVD performance closely. Further, National Highways is investing more than £300m to maintain roadside technology and improve its performance during Road Period 2 (2020-2025). This includes £105m targeted at improving its systems and technology on All Lane Running (ALR) sections of smart motorway. Roadside technology on ALR smart motorways is given high priority. National Highways has well-rehearsed contingency plans for both planned and unplanned outages. These include lowering speed limits, increasing patrols by its traffic officers, enhanced monitoring of CCTV, and using pre-positioned vehicle recovery to speed up attendance and clearance of stranded vehicles.

Motorcycles: Driving Licences

Lord Moylan: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of how the Motorcycle Industry Association’s proposals to incentivise the progressive access licensing route would impact road safety.

Lord Davies of Gower: In December 2023, officials met with motorcycle stakeholder representatives to listen to and discuss various motorcycle initiatives including ideas for reform. Discussions continue, and a roundtable with Ministerial attendance is scheduled for the 8th of May.

Motorcycles: Licensing

Lord Moylan: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how a simplified licensing process for powered light vehicles would impact (1) the uptake of powered light vehicles, (2) the accessibility of cheaper forms of personal mobility, and (3) the decarbonisation of road transport.

Lord Davies of Gower: The Government has collected robust evidence on the use of different regulatory regimes, including licensing, to support the previously announced Low-speed Zero Emission Vehicle category. Any assessment of evidence would be published as part of a consultation on regulations before they come into force and will be brought forward when parliamentary time allows. The Government has made no assessment of how changes to licensing might impact the uptake of L-category vehicles.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Nuclear Fusion

Lord Wigley: To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of progress being made towards the development of nuclear fusion, and by what date they estimate thatelectricitygenerated in this mannermay be available to consumers.

Lord Callanan: The Government’s STEP Programme, the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production, will design, develop, and build by the 2040s a prototype fusion power plant capable of delivering energy to the UK grid. The Government has already committed over £240 million towards the first phase of STEP which will develop a concept design for the prototype plant. Hosted in West Burton, Nottinghamshire, STEP will play an important role in demonstrating the commercial viability of fusion energy and galvanise the UK fusion sector. Fusion Energy is anticipated to play a significant role in the UK’s energy production from the 2050’s and beyond.

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Eutelsat OneWeb: Finance

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask His Majesty's Government what is their (1) current, and (2) expected future, equity stakein US satellite technology company Eutelsat OneWeb (formerly OneWeb).

Viscount Camrose: Eutelsat OneWeb is a UK-based subsidiary of Eutelsat Group. The Government has no plans to change its 10.89% shareholding in Eutelsat Group at this time.

Eutelsat OneWeb: Finance

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask His Majesty's Government, according to their business plan justifying their investment in US satellite technology company OneWeb in 2020, what projection they made of the value of the company at the end of 2024.

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish (1) their original investment case, including financial projections, for the purchase of a $500 millionstake in US satellite technology company OneWeb in 2020; and (2) an updated business case and financial projections for their investment in the company.

Viscount Camrose: As was the case under previous governments, any investment case informing Government's decision to invest in OneWeb, including financial projections, remains commercially sensitive. As a publicly traded company, Eutelsat Group regularly publishes its financial results, including market guidance on their outlook and financial objectives, and the latest were published on 16 February 2024.